History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 39

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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never could be induced to accept any public office. the United States in the early part of the present cen-

Mr. Radford married Miss Adelia Antoinette, Yonkers estate was divided between Mrs. Shonnard : daughter of David B. Wood, of Newburg. Their

In 1868 the present Frederic Shonnard married Jesse Somerville Voss, of Baltimore, Md., a descend- ant of the Stuart and Knox families of Scotland, and of the Fitzhughs, of Virginia. She died iu 1873, leav- ing one daughter, Sophia Seymour Shonnard. Death was to her a relief from years of suffering, patiently borne. The qualities of mind which she displayed endeared her to wide circles of friends, both in Yon- kers and Baltimore.

In 1875 he married Eugenie Smyth, who was born in 1854 in Paris, France (where her parents resided for some years), the daughter of J. Kennedy Smyth, of

New York, who is descended on his father's side from ; ical party, and shunned all offers of official honor. an old English family of that name, and on his He was an attendant of the Reformed Church and his memory is cherished by his friends as a kind parent and a worthy citizen. mother's from the famous Douglas family of Scotland, of which an early English poet lias said,-

"So many, so good as of Douglas blood have been,

Of one sirname, in one Kingrick, never yet were seen,"

Mrs. Frederic Shonnard's mother is Julia Gabriella Ogden, a daughter of Samuel Gouverneur Ogden, who was the great slipping merchant of New York in the early part of this century, and who, on her mother's side, is a great-granddaughter of Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and granddaughter of Morgan Lewis, the Governor of New York in 1804, and is related to the Ludlow, Livingston and Van Cortlandt families of this State.

The children of this marriage have been six in | ii .- 17.

number, of whom two have died, viz. : Frederic and Eugenie, the latter an infant. Frederic lived only six years, but in that short life, such was the manli- ness, intelligence and sweetness of his character, that he had strongly endeared himself to many iu nowise related to him. The four living children are Horatio Seymour, Kennedy, Ludlow and Eugenia Frederica.

Nathaniel Radford, a native of Nova Scotia, came to tury and settled in Poughkeepsie. His wife was Sarah Barton, of Dutchess County, and they were the parents of three sons, William, Lewis and Thomas ; the latter was born in Poughkeepsie October 8, 1819. He re- mained in his native place till the age of fifteen, when he went to New York and entered the store of his brother Lewis, who wasalready established in business. There he remained for four years and then commenced business on his own account, and was very successful in his commercial transactions. In 1854, having accu- mulated a competence, he removed to Yonkers, where he passed the remainder of his life as a retired coun- try gentleman, building the handsome residence on South Broadway, where his family now reside, and devoting his time and attention to the improvement of his estate, and making the comfort and enjoyment of his family his constant care.

family of ten children, who are all living, are Frances, wife of Oscar Waring; Huldah, wife of William Welsh; Adelaide W., wife of James H. Weller; Thomas W. (who married Eldora, daughter of Mont- gomery Davis) ; Antoinette, wife of Charles R. Cris- field; Emma, wife of Garrett F. Rose ; Lizzie; Lewis (who married Lucy C. Berston) ; Walter and George B. Most of these are now residents of Yonkers.

William Radford, the elder brother of the subject of this sketch, was the first president of Yonkers, and was elected member of Congress. His brother Lewis is a successful business man of New York, where he now resides.

Mr. Thomas Radford was not attached to any polit-

He died December 30, 1877, in the fifty-eighth year of his age.

S. Francis Quick, the story of whose life is so full of encouragement to the youth of energy and industry, was born at Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, April7, 1830. When of suitable age for active labor he learned the carpenter's trade of Henry Latson, a skillful mechanic in his native place. At the end of his apprenticeship, in 1850, an accommodating neighbor loaned him twenty dollars to buy tools, and with these, and three dollars in his pocket (two of which he loaned to a fellow- workman) he came to Yonkers and commenced liis labors with a cash capital of one dollar, but with an

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amount of energy and perseveranee that was worth a fortune. He first worked as a journeyman with Sylvanus Ferris, with whom he remained about three years, and at the eonelusion of that time he formed a partnership with Nelson Ackert, and they bought out the business of their employer. This partnership continued for twenty years; they conducted a very thriving business, and soon gained an enviable repu- tation for skill and excellence in work, and honor in their business dealings. In 1869 a fire occurred, by which their buildings were destroyed, and caused a loss to the young partners of twenty-two thousand dollars. So well established was their reputation,

George H. Purser was born in 1810, in the parish that several gentlemen of means, among them Martin , of Christ Church, Surrey, on the banks of the Thames, Bates, of Riverdale, and William Menzes, of New and on the site of the ancient Paris Gardens, a eele- brated place of recreation for the nobility in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. York, voluntarily called upon them and offered to supply the funds to enable them to commence busi- ness anew. Their shops were soon rebuilt and they His father was an arehiteet and surveyor, but pre- maturely died before the birth of his son. The elder brother, William, who subsequently obtained reputa- tion as an artist, neglected the business of his de- ceased parent, so that the family was reduced to com- parative poverty, and the education of the younger son was neglected. He only remained at school for a few months, and was compelled to acquire the elc- ments of learning wholly through personal efforts, and the opportunity afforded by associations. He entered the office of a lawyer named Charles Carus Wilson, then the tallest man in England. While in his service he became eonneeted with the Mechanies' Institute, in Southampton Buildings, an institute founded by Dr. Birbeck. entered upon a new career of prosperous activity. The rapid growth of the city of Yonkers and the ad- joining villages made their business very extensive. Among the buildings erected by them may be men- tioned the Baptist, the Unitarian and Episcopal Churches in Yonkers, and Christ Church, at River- dale, the large buildings of the Catholic Institution of Mount St. Vincent, the foundry and machine-shops at Spuyten Duyvil, two-thirds of the factories in the eity, besides a very large number of the finest private dwellings. Mr. Aekert, the junior partuer, clied in 1876, aud Mr. Quiek, who had a short time previously purchased his share of the business, has ever since condueted it in his own name. His buildings occupy seven lots on Atherton Street, and his shops Among his youthful associates were George Thomp- son, the Abolitionist and leeturer, who eventually became a member of Parliament. Mr. Thompson afterwards visited the United States, and his life was written by Lloyd Garrison, with whom he had formed a elose intimacy. Richard Cull, who edited Ogilvie's dietionary, and subsequently became known as a linguist and antiquarian, and Joseph Jenkins, the artist, who recently died, were his companions. Out of their seanty earnings they sought instruction in elocution from John Thelwall, who, it may be re- membered, in 1794 was tried for treason, with Horne Tooke and others, but was acquitted. are well supplied with machinery of the most im- proved kind, and furnish employment for fifty or seventy-five men. Mr. Quick, in politics, is con- nccted with the Republican party, but has declined all offers of political preferment. He has for several years been one of the trustecs of Yonkers Savings Bank. In religion, he is a member of the First Methodist Church, and has been one of the trustecs for the past twenty years, and is well known as a lib- eral supporter of every benelolent enterprise. Mr. Quick is descended from an English family, who settled in Dutchess County at an early date, and his grandfather, Gerardus Quick, was living there during the Revolution. His father, Peters G. Quick, mar- ried, first, Rebceca, daughter of Daniel Ackert, and second, Lydia C., daughter of Sebastian Crapser. Their children were S. Francis, Charles W., Peter R., Edwin A., Catharine, wife of William Scoles, Annie, Cornelia, and Mary, wife of Elmore Rickert. Mr. S. Francis Quick the subject of this article) married Susan Adams in 1854. Their children are Newton (who married Lney Bryant, and has one son, Fred- erick), Arthur, Lucy, wife of Frank E. Wheeler, and Ella.

Edwin A. Quick, who is now associated with his brother, having charge of the architectural depart-

ment of his extensive business, married Martha Stapleton in 1862, and has three children, Elmer E. (who married ('larene, daughter of John Sherwood), Louise B. and Henry L. Mr. Quick left his native place when a boy, and began the study of architecture and praetieal earpentry, with the firm of Ackert & Quick. For many years he was superintendent for a prominent building firm in New York City, and during the last few years that he has been connected with his brother has designed some of the most prom- inent buildings in Yonkers and vieinity, the War- burton Building being perhaps one of his best efforts.

His eldest sister, oeeupied as a governess, offered to pay the expenses of his education at the college of Aberdeen, but the proffer was deelined from the con- vietion that it would too severely tax her means, and that in England cven learning could be made of little avail in any profession without personal influenee and the lapse of many years. Under thesc convictions he concluded to make the l'uited States his future home, and. if possible, to lay the foundation of his success in this country. Since his mother was an invalid, this resolution involved suffering. He took passage, in 1831, in the brig "Columbia," and, after a tempest- nous voyage of nearly six weeks, landed at night, in the midst of winter, with the captain, in an open boat at

I Frances Quick

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YONKERS.

the foot of Cortlandt Street, with a scanty wardrobe and a capital of only five dollars. Being utterly friendless and without any available indorsement of character, in his simplest attire, he traversed the city asking employment, but not assuming intelligence. He temporarily found menial employment in chemi- cal factories, and at night, for a small compensation, attended the book auctions conducted by Levy, on Broadway.

After a few months thus occupied he was engaged by a wholesale druggist, John M. Bradhurst, one of our most respected and wealthiest citizens. He here continued to discharge merely servile duties, until, when taking account of stock, the firm accidentally discovered that he could both read and write, when he was raised from post to post, until he became chief clerk in the establishment. It was during this period that he, unfortunately, entered into a public discus- sion with Dr. Sleigh, which resulted in procuring for him some reputation for ability, but gained him a no- toriety which occasioned much regret. He conducted the debate with unvarying good temper, intimating that it was undertaken from no positive conviction that his skeptical views were correct, but rather fron the desire of testing their accuracy, and arriving at a true conclusion. His opponent was a well-educated and fluent man, but not, it is believed, eminently respected for his personal character, and had as- sumed the undertaking to make money. Some of the most distinguished clergymen of the city pre- sided and acted as moderators, and were invariably sincere and liberal men. When he insisted that the fees for admission should be divided, Sleigh was in- dignant, and paraded the fact in his opening speech, but was surprised and mortified to be informed with equal publicity by the presiding officer, that Mr. Pur- ser had privately made arrangement with the modera- tors that his interest in the proceeds should pass into their hands to be, at their discretion, devoted to char- itable purposes. At the end of ten days, the time stipulated, he withdrew from the controversy, refusing the urgent solicitations of Dr. Sleigh to continue the discussion, which had drawn some popular attention, and was decidedly profitable. The views and opin- ions then expressed he no longer entertains. Dr. Sleigh was anxious that the debate should be put in book-form, proposing to divide the pecuniary result, but this proposition was also declined.

He was a member of the old Volunteer Fire De- partment, having served his time with the Southwark Engine, No. 38. Thus occupied, he was at varions times elected secretary and vicc-president of the Fire Department, and discharged these offices for many years.

It was about this time that he became interested in polities, and was identified with the Loco Foco party, and eventually elected assistant alderman and alder- man of the Fourth Ward, but on an independent tick- et, and in opposition to the Tammany candidates. At that time the law providing for the protection of cmi- grants was very imperfect. The exclusive duty of caring for the sick and destitute devolved upon the ship-owners, who made bargains with unprincipled men to conduct establishments for that purpose, agrec- ing to pay to such speculators a certain sum per head for each passenger. This was merely nominal, since only a few had to be provided for. The result was the establishment of irresponsible hospitals, in which the inmates neither received medical nor moral care, the building being always crowded and decidedly un- wholesome, and the food furnished insufficient and of- ten offensive. To this subject he directed his earnest attention, and by visiting these shameless institutions was enabled to ascertain and expose thesc evils. The elaborate report which he prepared was published and was considered at a public meeting held at the Tab- ernacle. The report was embodied in a petition to the Legislature, and was thus the foundation of the : existing system creating emigrant commissioners. The Legislature of New York subsequently re-pub- lished, in their proceedings, his report with commend- ations.

In 1848 he was appointed by the Supreme Court one of the commissioners to take and estimatc land required in Westchester County for the construc- tion ofthe Hudson River Railroad Company. Being the youngest member, he acted as secretary, and kept notes of their proceedings and of the evidence sub- mitted. The owners very generally were hostile to the improvement, and claimed excessive damages. They insisted that the scheme would not only impair the beauty and value of the river-front, but would seriously interfere with the quiet and comfort of the residents. That they were mistaken wholly in these views is established by the fact that the property af- fected was enhanced in a few years more than a hun- dred per cent., and one of the owners in 1869 sold to Mr. Purser for five thousand dollars an acre, which, in 1840, had cost him ahnost nothing in comparison. In 1850 Mr. Purser assisted in drafting the act ap- pointing tax commissioners in the city of New York, for the assessment of real and personal estate, on the understanding that the Whigs, then in ascendency, should select a non-partisan board. In consideration of this service, without personal solicitations, he was appointed one of the three commissioners.

Previous to this needed reform each ward of the I city elected an assessor, and it may be readily imag-

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

ined that the valuations were frequently unequal and unjust.

Surrendering this office in 1854, he was appointed corporation attorney, a position which he occupied until 1860. With the exception of acting as clerk of street openings, under the direction of subsequent corporation counsels, he never sought or secured any political office, but was devoted to professional and journalistic pursuits.

In sympathy with sound public opinion, he, how- ever, in 1869, vigorously opposed Messrs. Tweed, Con- nelly and the corrupt clique that controlled the inn- nicipal government, and favored the hostility of the Young Democracy. He prepared a draft of a city charter with the view of correcting existing abuses, and, after consulting with Samuel J. Tilden, Manton Marble and other respectable leaders, the document was approved, printed in the World office and sub- mitted to the Legislature, where it was defcated only by political defection and the notorious use of money. It will be remembered that subsequently Tweed and his associates secured the passage of another charter, which confirmed and increased their corrupt power. Such opposition naturally increased the animosity of Tweed, and broke up on his part all political and personal relations with Mr. Purser.

Anthony B. Archer, William H. Anderson, William Archibald, Peter Archer, William G. Ackerman, Hi- ram Barney, George Barker, Mrs. John Berrian It was at this time that the judiciary, by its action, forfeited public confidence by trampling upon private and corporate rights for personal ends. Among other projects a conspiracy was formed to embarrass the Mutual Life Insurance Company, and throw its prop- erty into the hands of a receiver. Such a proceeding would have seriously interfered with the interests of the insured. Mr. Winston, the president, with the (widow), William Brown, Alfred Burlington, Henry W. Bashford, Mrs. Esther A. Bashford (widow), Nel- son Bailey, Isaac Barker, Mrs. Thomas Cahill, Albert Cole, John Copcutt, Jantes Craft, MIrs. William Craft (widow), Thomas C. Cornell, William A. Cutbill, John B. Crisfield, George Crisfield, James Dusenberry, Michael Dearman, Johu Embree, George Ferris, George W. Francis, Statts Fowler, William C. Foote, concurrence of the directors, employed Mr. Purser to : George Fox, Robert P. Getty, John F. Garrison, detect and, if possible, frustrate this secret design. He succeeded in discovering that a prominent judge of New York had arranged on ex parte proceedings to appoint such a receiver, and also ascertained the name of his political ally in this nefarious attempt. A few days before the proposed application to the court Mr. Purser personally communicated with the judge, threatening to make public the facts in his possession unless he abandoned the scheme. Under such appre- hension he reluctantly yielded, to avoid exposure. This incident is referred to in a pamphlet written by Mr. Joseph Howard, in relation to the financial solvency and standing of the institution mentioned. Henry Gallina, Evert Gale, Joseph Godwin, John M. Houghin, Bailey Hobbs, John Hobbs, Peter Haines, Anson B. Iloyt, Noah B. Hoyt, John Henneberger, Alfred Jones, Ezra B. Keeler, Jolm Kniffin, Jacob Kauffelt, Jacob F. Kolb, Pembroke Lawrence, William J. Majory, John Murtha, Joseph Moore, Charles Mercer, Dennis MIcGrath, Thomas O'Brien, Moses Odell, John Olmsted, Lawrence Post, Joseph Peeue, Jacob Read, Samuel D. Rockwell, Levi P. Rose, Pat- riek Reynolds, Lewis Ritter, Goorge Russell, Mary Samler, Odell Stephenson, John Thompson, Alfred Valentine, William A. Varian, John Henry Williams, Edward Weston, John T. Waring, Charles E. Waring, John Wheeler, James Youmans-seventy-six.

Though still continuing president of the Daily News Publishing Company, Mr. Purser has withdrawu sub- stantially from all business occupations, finding onter- tainment in his library and in the collection of engra- vings and portraits for the illustration of historical and other literary work -.

He married, in 1840, Priscilla S. Ditchett, and has a family of six daughters and one son-George H. Purser, Jr. MIr. Wm. Romer, of White Plains, Dr. F. C. Valentine aud J. Henry Stegmann, of New York City, married into the family, but the latter died a few years ago.

And now we are led to wonder how many people are yet living who resided in the entire town of Yonkers thirty-one years ago, when our village was incorporated (1855). The population of the town in that year was seven thousand five hundred and fifty-four. In 1850, only five years before, it had been but four thousand one hundred and sixty. What could it have been in 1852?

We have before us the tax-list of this last year. It contains the names of four hundred and thirty resi- dent tax-pavers of the town. Careful examination of their names shows that thirty-three of these tax-payers are living, but have moved away, that three hundred and twenty-one of them are dead, and that seventy-six of them still live within what was, at that time, the town of Yonkers. The names of these seventy-six are as follows :

This shows that only about one in four of the resi- dent tax-payers of 1852 are living in 1886, and that only about one in six are still living within what, in 1852, was the town of Yonkers. If this proportion (known to be correct) of the tax-payers be assumed to

"SHADY DELL." RESIDENCE OF GEO. H. PURSER, YONKERS, N. Y,

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YONKERS.

be correet of the entire population, it shows that in thirty-three years three-fourths of a population have died. We do not eare to comment unnecessarily on this impressive reminder of the rapidity with which busy generations pass along, and come to be seen no more where they were once so mueh felt and so well known. It speaks for itself, and will carry its own lesson to thoughtful men.

As far as we know, no person now residing within the city of Yonkers has passed one hundred years of age. Mrs. Hannah Stillwagon, who lived at No. 30 Prospeet Street, has died in 1886, at the great age of one hundred and three. Captain Isaac Denike, well known in our lower river towns as an old sloop-master on the Hudson, died in Yonkers November 2, 1880, aged one hundred and one years, one month and one day. And Mr. Thomas Marran, Sr., died in Novem- ber, 1885, at the age of one hundred years and one month. We do not remember any other citizens of Yonkers who have really reached a century of age, though very many have come within a few months of it before passing away.

SECTION XXVI. Conclusion.

WE reserve for this chapter a few statements re- speeting the origin, object and spirit of this history.

1. In the preparation of it we have drawn without reserve upon all persons and all sourees within our reach from whom or which we could derive any information that would be of interest or serviee. Facts are not made by the historian, but simply col- lected. We were first put upon the collection of the annals of Yonkers in 1868, for use at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the organization of its Reformed ('hureh, and a second time, in 1882, for usc at the bi- centennial of the founding of our Manor Hall. In our present history we have not only availed ourselves of the results of our earlier and more limited rescarehes, but have pushed inquiry, as far as we possibly eould, so as to take in every interest of Yonkers as a settle- ment, town, village and city from 1609 to the present time inclusive. We have not only covered all the manorial and colonial history of the place, but have shown the rise, progress and present condition of our general government and all its departments-judicial, health, excise, fire, water, police and educational. We have given full accounts of all our churches and mis- sions, a very comprehensive history of our newspapers, industries, banks, charities, associations, unions, orders, clubs, hotels, boarding-houses, halls, means of transportation and cemeteries. We have even taken care to preserve against loss the detailed history of our Bi-Centennial celebration of 1882. And we have closed our history by glancing at the people who have made Yonkers what it is, and given it, humanly speaking, its character, value and power of attraction. We do not think we have omitted anything essential to a full understanding of the city. And what we

have collected we have recorded, not in the form of a succession of dry documents, but in a form flowing and readable. In colleeting the faets of our later and present condition we have drawn upon the officers of our city government and the heads of its depart- ments, upon pastors, editors, bank officers and pro- prietors of industries and largely upon our older citi- zens. It has given us pleasure to name at every point, as far as we could, all persons from whom we have gathered our facts or through whom papers have come to us. The work, however, of assorting, arrang- ing and stating the facts that have been collected has been wholly our own. We say this, that if any cen- sure shall be pronounced upon this history, it may fall wholly upon us and not upon any who have kindly helped us in the preparation of the work.

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 39

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286